Gift
by Corovera
Summary: #46 in my 100 Themes one-shot challenge. Life is a gift, and he understands that better than anyone.


Vivi figured it was the same for everyone. No one lives forever, and no one knows when their time will come. The difference is that he's got a lot less time than regular people.

He's already lived longer than usual for a Black Mage. Most of the others are already gone, and he's not sure why it's different for him. All he knows for sure is that any minute, any second, could be his last…and that every speck of his life is precious.

There is no way to save those few Black Mages that remain. He knows, because he's tried. He's gathered old, dusty tomes and ancient spells from across the world, but nothing he's tried has worked. Whatever magic gave them life was solid – inalterable. It could not be tampered with once cast. Why would it need to be? They were weapons. They were disposable.

When he finds an answer, it's not the one he was looking for. It comes in a spellbook – not ancient, but new. Steiner gives it to Vivi, and his hands are trembling, though he does his best to hide it. It was found in the castle, he says, in a locked case in the library.

The book reads more like a blueprint than a spellbook, but its contents deal solely with magic. It doesn't take long for Vivi to realize what he's reading, and when he does, he nearly drops the book.

This is the beginnings of the Black Mage project. _Kuja _wrote this. And if that wasn't enough, it contains details concerning a prototype, including the process used to create it. That section is followed by a sketch that looks just like Vivi.

So that was why he'd lasted.

The blueprints only confirm what he's already determined – that it is impossible to extend the life of a Black Mage. Up until now, he thought he'd come to terms with it. But somehow, seeing it written out like that makes it worse.

For a while, he can't look at the book. It is too painful, too strange. The manual for one's own creation is not something that anyone is meant to see. And yet eventually, curiosity wins out, and he opens the book once more. He examines it. He studies it. Even if he cannot change his own fate or that of his friends, he might still find something useful in its pages.

It is then that he finds his answer.

There is a part of the text that concerns the longevity of the creation. And while the spell of animation cannot be changed once cast, it can be determined during the casting process. In other words, the only reason the Black Mages stopped so quickly was because Kuja wanted them to. If someone else were to create new ones, then they could be made to live as long as anyone else.

For some time, Vivi is unsure of what to do. Is there any reason to create more Black Mages? Perhaps it would be better if the last of them disappeared quietly, allowing the world to forget them. They had caused so much destruction and pain. But somehow, that seems wrong. As soon as they gained consciousness, they lost the desire to destroy. They were innocent and kind. They deserved to live, and if they could not, then others would do so in their place.

Garnet gives the project her blessing, but her position means she cannot help them personally. Instead, Vivi works with Eiko and her new mother. As a white mage, Eiko has an intimate understanding of life, and Hilda's decades of study complement Vivi's intuitive knowledge of magic. The three of them work for days to modify the spell. They break the blueprint down to its basic components, shifting and rearranging them until every detail is precisely what they want.

As soon as they finish, they fly an airship to a far-off corner of the world, where the last of the Mist has retreated. And here, Vivi casts the spell alone. It is a slow, painstaking process without a machine to channel the magic, but he endures. He cannot stop now. This is his gift – to his friends, and to the world. And eventually, finally, it is done.

They are more like him than the other Black Mages, with their small bodies and their childlike voices. The first thing they do is ask questions. "Who are we?" "Who are you?" "Where is this?"

Vivi tries not to cry as he addresses his children for the first time. "You're alive," he says. "That's what you are."


End file.
